Job Discussion Forums

[Jonasval]

As we all know the Foundation Year programs at state universities in the UAE will be phased out by 2018.

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/foundation-year-at-uae-state-universities-to-be-scrapped-from-2018


What are your thoughts on the effect this will have on English language teachers, especially for those with experience and MA degrees in TESOL?

Will the market dry up?

[veiledsentiments]

2018 is probably wishful thinking... but, the market will certainly not improve. They will still need the teachers to teach them English, but it will probably be through language institutes with lower pay and benefits... but that is merely my guess. No one really knows yet what will happen...

VS

[rdobbs98]

This is an old article and not even the talk on the ground here. English proficiency is actually not improving because the local population continues to struggle; the locals are the ones who can afford the tuition at the universities in the UAE. Pretty much a UAE degree is useless outside of the UAE and everyone knows this.

Every year someone in the Ministry wants to scrap the program but the universities know better and it remains.

[nomad soul]

Additionally, there's this related issue:

Attracting and retaining qualified Emirati teachers a challenge, educators told
By Roberta Pennington, The National | September 23, 2014
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/attracting-and-retaining-qualified-emirati-teachers-a-challenge-educators-told

ABU DHABI // The challenge of attracting and retaining Emirati teachers was the focus of an education conference yesterday.

“We need our locals to contribute to education,” Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, director general of the Abu Dhabi Education Council, told about 500 educators, academics and diplomats at the fifth annual conference at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research. “We need to change the mindset. We need to let them see that teaching is not only a job, it’s a kind of national service. And if you’re so passionate about giving back to your country, you have to see it from that aspect, to give back with passion and try to drive it with excellence.” Adec attracted more than 300 Emirati teachers and 120 assistant teachers this academic year. It is hiring about 1,200 administrative staff who will join the government agency this year, Dr Al Qubaisi said. While this is an improvement, Emiratis make up only 5 per cent of the workforce employed by Adec.

Even local colleges and universities are having trouble recruiting Emirati high-school graduates to education studies, said Mahra Al Mutaiwei, director of the regional centre for educational planning. Enrolment at UAE University’s College of Education has been on a steady decline. In 2010, there were 781 students. This year, that dropped to 548 – all women, Mrs Al Mutaiwei said. “For seven years there has been no males.”

The Emirates College for Advanced Education also had a decline in the number of graduates who earned a degree in education. In 2012, 141 Emirati women and six men graduated. Last year, there were 65 and this year there were 49 graduates – all women. Mrs Al Mutaiwei said more needed to be learnt about why Emirati men were not attracted to teaching. “We need to do scientific research, we want to know the real reason,” she said. “The salary is more in the army or police so they go to something else.” She said other factors included the pressure of the work, and how the community viewed teachers.

Adec and the Ministry of Education said they would launch initiatives to change perceptions about the profession. “We are trying to encourage more, inshallah, and there will be more initiatives to bring them on board,” said Dr Al Qubaisi. Marwan Al Sawaleh, undersecretary at the ministry, said plans were under way to attract Emirati teachers, especially men, and offer incentives to keep existing staff. “The Ministry of Education conducted a number of initiatives and programmes to improve the situation of teachers, and has invested a lot in infrastructure to make education an incubator for creators and innovators,” Mr Al Sawaleh said. “The ministry also opened its door to all educators to continue their higher studies and has granted scholarships for them to continue their master’s and PhD degrees. We need to have first-class education system and we can do that through collaboration with education centres and councils and all other stakeholders.”

(End of article)

[rdobbs98]

Recruiting locals isn't the answer, even if they could. The locals already teach in schools, the government schools, which are even worse than the private schools. No discipline, lack of control, and basically a childcare service rather than a school. When the education system allows the passing of children up to grade 5, even though they fail, is a failure its self. Then put on top of that in having schools that push teachers to pass students based upon their family status in the community; it all falls apart.

I am in administration here now and see children who come an hour late to school because the school is just seen as a convenience, parents who aren't even aware of what grade their students are in because the nanny does everything, and parents who do nothing to encourage their children to complete homework and studies. I have even had a parent tell me "I pay for an 'A'"; I said you pay for an education and your part of the reason your child either succeeds or fails, it's not only the teacher or school who are at fault.

Until the local attitude changes towards education the results will remain the same. Local English fluency is near the bottom. I know locals who send their children to either the UK or USA because they know it is the only chance their child has at a decent education that is accepted anywhere. There are exceptions by some local families because they know and care about their children's education but it is far from the norm.

[PC Parrot]

Don't worry. It will all be fixed in 7 years' time.

www.thenational.ae/uae/education/uae-schools-should-be-up-with-the-worlds-best

If only the damn teachers weren't such an obstacle to progress ...

[The Fifth Column]

[veiledsentiments]

Gee... I wonder why the young men would prefer to be in the army and police for more money, respect, and not have to deal with all those lovely little children or even worse - secondary school students. Let's pay for expensive "scientific research" to study the obvious...

VS